A series of senior leaders in local government and business in the East and West Midlands have all signed a statement welcoming last week’s £123 million to begin work on the Midlands Rail Hub.
The leaders and portfolio holders from councils and business groups have all come together to sign the joint statement.
The Midlands Rail Hub will benefit more than 50 stations – covering 7 million people across the region – will benefit from the plans, made possible by reallocated HS2 funding. The first phase of the Midlands Rail Hub will mean an additional train every hour in both directions between central Birmingham and locations including Bristol, Cardiff, Cheltenham & Worcester. When delivered in full, the hub will see services on most routes increase by between 50% and 100%. Birmingham’s Cross-City line will be given a ‘turn-up-and-go’ service with a train every 10 minutes.
The statement from the leaders, portfolio holders and business chiefs said: “We welcome the news that funding has been announced for the Midlands Rail Hub. The funding we have now received will enable us to finalise the design and finally kick start the delivery of Midlands Rail Hub - allowing extra services initially from Birmingham to Worcester, Cardiff and Bristol.
"Although this funding is for one section of the project, we are progressing at pace with the Rail Hub’s "Eastern" scope securing - as set out in Network North's proposals - improved rail connections between Birmingham and key destinations in the East Midlands like Leicester, Nottingham and Derby.
“Through our Midlands Connect partnership and WMRE and Transport for the East Midlands, we will continue to work with government to ensure the benefits of the Rail Hub ripple throughout the region including communities like Hereford and Lichfield.
“When delivered in full, Midlands Rail Hub will create faster and more frequent east-west journeys including 14 million extra seats every year.
“Our message to government is clear: The £123m is very welcome and we must now work together, full steam ahead, to get the project off the ground.”